MCLA was founded in 1894 as North Adams Normal School, and it offered first instruction at post-secondary level three years later. In 1932, North Adams Normal School became State Teachers College of North Adams. Along with the name change, it added an upper-division curriculum and awarded the first degree (baccalaureate). Four years later, the school instituted an upper-graduate program. In 1960, the college changed its name to North Adams State College and, later in 1997, to Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, the latter name reflecting its position as the public liberal arts college within the Massachusetts state university system.

In 2004, President Mary Grant initiated collaborations with other institutions to strengthen MCLA's leadership position. The college launched the Berkshire Compact for Higher Education and MCLA Gallery 51. MCLA also is the lead partner in the Berkshire STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) Pipeline Network.

MCLA is located one mile from the center of North Adams, Massachusetts, a city of 13,708 people, in the northwestern corner of the state that borders both Vermont and New York. Travel time from Boston, Massachusetts is around three hours, three and a half hours from New York City, about one hour from Albany, New York, and two hours from Hartford, Connecticut. It is located 50 miles from Albany, 180 miles from New York City, and 135 miles from Boston.

MCLA awards the bachelor of arts and a bachelor of science on the undergraduate level and also confers master's degrees in both education and business administration, as well as a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study (CAGS). MCLA offers 19 major programs of study and 35 minors. On average, MCLA offers 300 academic courses each semester.

From 1963, the college's athletic teams were known as the Mohawks, after the Mohawk Trail which runs along Route 2. In response to concerns over using a Native American name (Francis Boots, cultural-preservation officer of the Mohawk tribe, has told college officials that his people were not honored by the name[2]), the mascot was changed to the Trailblazers in 2002. In 2013, a new mascot, the Mountain Lion, was adopted.[3]

The most successful team in the college's history was the men's hockey team, which was cut in 2003.

MCLA is governed by the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education. Beyond that, MCLA has extra-institutional representation of 11 voting members and the Board of Trustees, whose members are appointed by the governor which has 11 voting members. A student representative to the board of trustees is elected every spring by the student body to sit for one academic year. Administration positions include 12 men and 24 women. Academic affairs is headed by the vice president for academic affairs. Business and finances is headed by the vice president for administration and finance. Student affairs is headed by the vice president of student affairs. The full-time instructional faculty has 52 men and 36 women. The academic governance body, All College Committee, meets an average of nine times each year.

MCLA has a rolling-admissions plan but requires graduation from an accredited secondary school or a GED. MCLA uses SAT or ACT composite scores for entrance consideration. MCLA accepts transfer students with grade-point average requirements or with an associate degree.

Graduation from MCLA requires completing 120 credits of academic work. From these 120 credits, about 40 should be college-wide core curriculum credits. Another 40 credits are required to complete a major. Like many higher education programs, 40 upper-division credits are also required. MCLA has a college residence requirement saying at least 45 credits must be earned in residence at the college. Students must earn at least a 2.0 grade point average overall and a 2.0 in their major.

MCLA offers internships for undergraduates through the Berkshire Hills Internship Program. It also offers undergraduates coursework in other countries through its travel abroad program. MCLA belongs to the Massachusetts Council for International Education (MaCIE), College Consortium for International Studies (CCIS), and the National Student Exchange (NSE). Through these associations and connections, students are sent on semester- or year-long programs to colleges around the world.

The college Honors Program includes ten percent of the student body for whom it offers special interdisciplinary courses in such topics as "The Mathematics of Fairness," "Ethics and Animals" or "The Romantic Movement." The college is authorized by the state to grant the distinction "Commonwealth Scholar" to students who complete the honors program with a capstone thesis.

The school has two student publications: The Beacon, a weekly newspaper, and Spires, a literary magazine published each year. Radio Station WJJW broadcasts for 140 hours each week. MCLA also has one faculty publication: The Mind's Eye, and one alumni publication, Beacons & Seeds, which comes out twice a year.